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Mixed Media Art. Photography. Inspiration.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Hi there. I'm a bit late with this, but here is my entry to the Summer of Color for green week. I've been so inspired by the techniques that I'm learning in the "Plaster Studio Workshop" online class, so I had to finally squeeze in some time for a little plaster play. This piece is not quite done (I think), but I'm liking how it looks so far. I think I want to mount it on something but I'm not quite sure how or what yet. I'll let you know when I do.

detail shots

Ooh, I love this cracked plaster technique! So much fun!!

I also wanted to let you know that it will continue to be quiet around here for at least another week, so I'll try to get caught up with you after that. Hopefully I can then participate more with the "Summer of Color" fun.

Thanks for being patient with me.

I hope you're all having fun and making wonderful messes with paint! xoE

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Hello there. I made not just one, but two cards for the first week of the Summer of Color. This week's color is blue, so of course I had to go with my favorite turquoisy-blue.

For the first card (more blue in person) I glued down several layers of paper, but wasn't quite liking it. I ended up grabbing a stencil and heavy gel medium to create the raised stencil pattern and covered up the rest of the card with the medium also. When it dried I painted it with many layers of blues, cream, and a touch of copper until I liked the effect.

I did learn an important lesson with this card.... open it first before slathering on the gel medium or you will glue the card closed. Yup. Lesson learned. I had to cut it open, but it's all good now ;-)

The second card has a layer of hand-painted paper (which ended up mostly covered up by more paint!). I glued down the center medallion (apparently I'm into medallions right now lol!), which was cut from a scrapbook paper by "Daisy D's" that I love, which then got some paint brushed over it to blend in. Then I dumped some Distress embossing powder by Tim Holtz into the wet glue and used a heat gun to emboss it. When that set up, I doodled with a black pen to add some details and used the end of a paint brush to add some cream dots. And finally I stamped on a quote...

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Here's the cabinet that I showed you last week that I was working on in this post here. I finished and delivered it Friday, along with another small one that I'll show you later.

That means I still have a large armoire to finish by the beginning of next week, for the same client but a different house. It'll be WAY different than this. The armoire is going to be in cream with accents of turquoise and brown possibly with a bird sitting on a branch. So if I'm not visiting your blogs as much right now I apologize... tight deadlines!

This photo above shows the third step in the process. First was prepping and painting it dark green (thank you Hubby for that part!) Second step was cutting the stencils and applying a raised texture through the stencils. Third step is to glue on crinkled tissue paper to give it a leather look.

I didn't get the best photos of it because I finished it 7:00 at night and dragged it outside quickly to get photos before the sun went down.

Oh yeah, actually it's not quite finished! The client wants me to add a touch of gold to the raised stencil areas so they pop out more. The study that it goes in is dark so you don't notice the details as much. I'll show photos of that when it's DONE done, but that'll be a while from now.

So now I'm off to go make a blue card of some sort for the Summer Of Color!

Oh, and because I apparently think I don't have enough on my plate right now (LOL!) I'm taking a fantastic online class that just started yesterday calledPlaster Studio Workshop! Which is taught byStephanie Lee and Judy Wise... the authors of my new favorite book "Plaster Studio". Oh my goodness... if you can't take the class (registration closes on the 15th I think) then you have to at least get this book! WOW!! It's right up my alley. Woohooooo!!!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Time to announce the winner of my very first giveaway! I'm going to make this short because it's been a LONG week and I'm exhausted! (I'll share photos of the finished cabinets I've been working on soon).

So...drumroll please......

The winner of "The Artist's Way" book (and a handmade card that's not yet made!) is.... Natasha May! Hi! It's so nice to meet you and congratulations!! Yay!! I'll need your address so I'm on my way to your blog now to contact you!!

And if you're wondering what the photo has to do with this, I couldn't find a good photo of a celebration or fireworks in my stash, so I figured this light kind of looks like fireworks! I showed more of these dandelion/firework lights a while back in this post here. xoE

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

First of all The Summer Of Color is now happening over at Twinkle Twinkle (click on the name to find out details). The color for the first project is blue! You know I love my blues! So Kristin (the lovely host of the event) asked us to post what materials we will be using for our first project. I think I'll make a collaged card with paint, paper etc to go to whoever wins my giveaway (still a couple of days left to enter...if interested go here.) And there's plenty of time to join us for The Summer Of Color fun! It's just getting started.

Before

I also wanted to share what I'm currently working on.

I was hired by my favorite Interior Decorator who I used to work with years ago, to paint a couple of cabinets. So here (above) is the before photo of the first one I'm working on. It looks way better in the photo... the finish on it was awful!

In progress...

And this photo shows the green that it is now, and the stencils I cut to embellish it. I'm doing a raised pattern on it with wood icing, then it'll get painted more and antiqued. It's going into a study, so I'm making it match, yet stand out from the other pieces in there. I have to finish this one by the end of the week so I'll get back to you when it's done with the photos of the finished product!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

I love the movement in these photos created by the iron pergola and it's shadow. And the textures (you know I love texture!) of the brick wall and flowers contrasted by the smooth, cool flower pots.

Isn't it pretty?

We walked right past it and I slowed down and turned to my husband and he knowingly said "It's a great day for shadow shots"! So I grabbed the keys and ran to the car and grabbed the camera to take these. This is why I have so many darn pictures of Pasadena... because they seem to have loveliness like this around every corner!

I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting that often. I have multiple projects going on right now. Of course I'll share them with you as I finish them... or maybe even some in progress shots along the way. Yeah. Good idea.

Here's a work in progress that I was working on last night. It's a large 36"x24". I had done several textured layers on it months ago, but put it aside to work on other projects. I got inspired to bring it back out last night (and ignore all the other unfinished projects around it!) I think it's calling for some gold leaf. Yeah... it is.

I'll be back in the next few days to share more of the happenings around here. See you then!

About Me

Hi. I am Esther Orloff, a mixed media artist in SoCal. I love to use texture in my paintings, eat healthy delicious food, and spend time in nature with a camera in hand.. and coffee in the other. I believe that art is important and can be a powerful messenger, and that we should all encourage one another in this life.